The New Mexico Department of Health announced nearly 250 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, including nearly 100 in Bernalillo County and more than 40 in Doña Ana County.
The state also announced three additional deaths related to the disease.
The news came a day after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that the state would not ease restrictions and said that those who do not wear masks would be subject to $100 fines.
The state now has found 12,520 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and identified 503 deaths related to the disease.
The 248 new cases was the second highest single-day number, following only June 5, when the state announced 331 confirmed cases, which included large increases in the Otero County Prison Facility.
This time, the largest drivers of new cases came in Bernalillo County, the most populous county in the state, with 98 cases and Doña Ana County with 42. Curry County, which has also seen a large increase in cases in recent days, had the third-most newly reported cases with 19. Curry County has seen 57 new cases since last Thursday, nearly a third of its 182 total cases.
The number of cases in Bernalillo and Curry counties were the highest one-day totals since the beginning of the pandemic, while the number from Doña Ana County was the second-highest.
Curry County is in eastern New Mexico, along the border with Texas. Texas has experienced a large increase in cases and its governor, Republican Greg Abbott, on Thursday ordered most counties to require people to wear masks in public.
Two of the three deaths came from McKinley County, which has seen a large drop in overall cases in recent weeks after being one of the hardest-hit areas in the country.
- A female in her 50s from Bernalillo County who had underlying conditions and was a resident of the Camino Healthcare facility in Albuquerque.
- A male in his 30s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
- A female in her 60s from McKinley County who was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.
DOH, as usual, did not provide which underlying condition any of the deceased had, only if one was present.
The number of those hospitalized for COVID-19 remained at 127 for the second day in a row. Dr. David Scrase, the secretary of the Human Services Department, said hospitalizations tend to lag by about two weeks from increase in cases. The number of hospitalizations could include those who tested positive for COVID-19 in other locations and are now hospitalized in New Mexico, but would not include New Mexicans who are hospitalized for COVID-19 out-of-state.
DOH also said 5,627 COVID-19 cases are designated as recovered, an increase of 113 over Wednesday’s total.
Testing details
According to the state’s coronavirus information page, a total of 356,637 tests have been processed as of Thursday. This is an increase of 6,577 tests since Wednesday.
The number of tests have increased in recent days, but so has the positivity rate of those tests. That said, even on Thursday’s high, the positivity rate was at 3.7 percent, below the 5 percent threshold cited by the World Health Organization for countries doing extensive testing.
While cases skyrocketed in the counties with the two largest urban centers, and Curry County, the cases continued to drop in McKinley County, which has seen its seven-day averages fall, and San Juan County which has seen lower cases after a large spike in cases last week.
- 97 new cases in Bernalillo County
- 5 new cases in Chaves County
- 2 new cases in Cibola County
- 1 new case in Colfax County
- 19 new cases in Curry County
- 42 new cases in Doña Ana County
- 2 new cases in Eddy County
- 1 new case in Grant County
- 5 new cases in Hidalgo County
- 8 new cases in Lea County
- 1 new case in Lincoln County
- 2 new cases in Luna County
- 14 new cases in McKinley County
- 1 new case in Otero County
- 4 new cases in Rio Arriba County
- 3 new cases in Roosevelt County
- 9 new cases in Sandoval County
- 12 new cases in San Juan County
- 1 new case in San Miguel County
- 9 new cases in Santa Fe County
- 1 new case in Sierra County
- 8 new cases in Valencia County
- 1 new case among individuals held by federal agencies at the Otero County Processing Center
The state also reported the total number of cases, including Thursday’s new results.
Three previously reported cases, one in McKinley County and two in Santa Fe County, were identified as out-of-state residents, and a case in Curry County was not lab confirmed. All of these were removed from the totals.
- Bernalillo County: 2,277
- Catron County: 2
- Chaves County: 100
- Cibola County: 214
- Colfax County: 10
- Curry County: 182
- Doña Ana County: 999
- Eddy County: 84
- Grant County: 20
- Guadalupe County: 20
- Harding County: 1
- Hidalgo County: 54
- Lea County: 142
- Lincoln County: 12
- Los Alamos County: 8
- Luna County: 82
- McKinley County: 3,408
- Otero County: 44
- Quay County: 6
- Rio Arriba County: 105
- Roosevelt County: 62
- Sandoval County: 740
- San Juan County: 2,472
- San Miguel County: 22
- Santa Fe County: 246
- Sierra County: 13
- Socorro County: 60
- Taos County: 43
- Torrance County: 43
- Union County: 8
- Valencia County: 132
DOH reported the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by federal agencies at the following facilities:
- Cibola County Correctional Center: 2
- Otero County Prison Facility: 275
- Otero County Processing Center: 148
- Torrance County Detention Facility: 32
DOH reported the following numbers of COVID-19 cases among individuals held by the New Mexico Corrections Department at the following facilities:
- Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Valencia County: 6
- Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Cibola County: 1
- Otero County Prison Facility: 444
- Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe County: 1
DOH said that they had identified at least one case in 24 acute care or long-term care facilities among either staff or residents in the last 28 days.
